AB 32 –some myths and some truths

September 2010

By Ron Kilmartin

AB 32 – the so-called Global Warming Solutions Act – is not only founded on a myth, it promotes additional myths, and its supporters propagate even more myths and scams on top of these to the people of California.

Proposition 23 on the November 2010 ballot – the California Jobs Initiative – will put AB 32 implementation on ice until California’s unemployment drops from 12 percent today to 5.5 percent, near but still above the humming level in 2006 when AB 32 was signed into law.

The reason advanced in Proposition 23 for the unemployment condition is that the current state economy is tottering on the brink of bankruptcy and the extreme economic shocks of AB 32 would send California over the cliff. When the economy starts humming again as indicated by low unemployment, full AB 32 implementation could again be brought to the table under the provisions of Proposition 23, unless it is sooner repealed entirely.

Propagation of myth is the art of brainwashing the public – i.e., propaganda. The forces currently arrayed against Proposition 23 and behind AB 32 are pushing the AB 32 myths in the best traditions of Orwell’s 1984, with its Ministry of Truth and doublespeak.

What are the myths and truths of AB 32? Below are eight myths and three truths, all of which argue for passage of Proposition 23.

AB 32 Myth No. 1.

AB 32 will reduce global warming by controlling the carbon footprint of the people in California.

AB 32’s foundational myth is that carbon dioxide, CO2, as generated by human beings, is warming the world’s climate, and will ultimately ( in scary year 2100) result in an earth on fire and sea water levels 20 feet higher than now.

This myth has been generated by a gang of pseudo-science bureaucrats including a plethora of U.S. government agencies and laboratories (NOAA, NASA, EPA, DOE, LLL), Universities, the British Climate Research Unit (CRU), the UN International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), plus tens of thousands of fellow travelers, or fleecers, all out to make a fast buck.

Propaganda by the AB 32 supporters and the Al Gore cabal of thieves has painted this basic CO2 myth lily-white and have proceeded to build a whole battery of new myths on this false foundation. But, recalling the biblical warning about sand foundations, the CO2 myth is not even founded on sand. AB 32 is founded on thin air.

Much to the dismay of this gang of fleecers and thieves, Climate Gate in November 2009 exposed the CO2 myth and the liars who created it. Hundreds of scientific investigations before and since then have verified that man-made CO2 never has and never will cause global warming. Meanwhile, after a brief hiatus the gang of pseudo-science thieves have recovered from the discovery of their infidelity and have launched white-wash investigations supposedly proving they were right all along. But too late for them, the CO2 myth came out of the bag!

Many investigations of the CO2 myth allude to natural climatic variations as the historic cause of global warming and cooling cycles. This is true for the 500-year Medieval warming (without CO2) and the 500-year little ice age which followed. Recent historical studies by Dr. Roy Clark have indeed showed that natural climate variations in California itself are directly related to the North Pacific Decadal Oscillation in ocean temperatures and not at all due to the increase in global CO2 over the past century.

While the factuality of the CO2 myth is now recognized throughout the world, the failure of the American and Californian Fourth Estate to inform Americans and Californians of the hoax shows the depth of media propaganda control by the global warming fleecers. The California government which should be looking out to protect its citizens from hyped-up snake oil is instead tied in with the fleecers with full knowledge that AB32 is worthless for reducing either CO2 concentration or global temperature.

AB 32 Myth No. 2

AB 32 is “needed” to reduce global CO2 and global warming.

California’s contribution of CO2 to the global atmosphere is so tiny it cannot be measured, so that even if Myth No.1 were not a myth, all the controls and wealth redistribution of AB 32 would not reduce global temperature by one iota. And this comes straight from the head of CARB, Director Mary Nichols.

Why then should Joe and Jane Sixpack be required to redistribute their income and wealth to the fleecers? There is no demonstrable global warming benefit according to CARB itself. Joe and Jane have a legitimate beef. AB 32 is bound to decrease their income and their overall wealth, and is moreover very likely to affect their jobs and their ability to continue home ownership.

Cranking the California economy back to 1990 levels of CO2 production with a 50% forecasted increase in population will of course devastate the state economy, even if it were in good shape to start with, which it is not.

AB 32 Myth No. 3

If AB 32 is put on ice all of California’s historic pollution regulations will go down with it.

This is another favorite myth of the fleecers. Since AB 32 provisions have nothing to do with regulating anything but greenhouse gasses, a win for Proposition 23 could not possibly affect any thing that is not regulated by AB 32.

AB 32 Myth No. 4

The Green Job Myth

The 2006 passage of AB 32 has led to a large group of green-gadget fleecers rushing to California to take advantage of taxpayer-supported tax-breaks, subsidies, and crony regulations to redistribute the wealth and income from Joe and Jane Sixpack to the fleecers. The 2010 existence of this green gadget fleecer group is not a myth; what is also not a myth is that they will eventually fail because of the overriding foundational myth No. 1; there is no scientific justification for the existence of green gadgets dependent on the CO2 myth.

Proposition 23 may fail because of a misinformed electorate. But like Abe Lincoln said, you cannot fool all the people all the time. The spirit of Proposition 23 will rise again but meanwhile the damage will be great.

If Proposition 23 fails, even more green-gadget fleecers will be joining the Fleece- Joe-and-Jane cabal, for a while. However, because of the overriding dominance of Myth No. 1, the green-gadget fleecers are all doomed to fail, and the so-called green jobs will become colorless routes to the unemployment office.

The AB 32 fleecers also tell us the green jobs will be a great benefit for the State of California. However, many such jobs have already gone to China or European countries. Check out green gadget fleecer General Electric: from curly-cue light bulbs to wind turbines, they are now Chinese General Electric. Not green jobs, just colorless unemployment lines in old GE company towns across the USA. Spain offers another example of experience with green jobs: for every green job created, two real jobs were lost, and its green jobs all went colorless.

No union should support AB 32 – it is a job killer for real red, white and blue jobs that you can build a life and family around. If your union is supporting AB 32, they are supporting a lie that will only hurt their membership in the long run. Your AB 32 supporting leadership is either uninformed or — fill in the blank.

AB 32 Myth No. 5

The AB 32 Clean Energy Myth

This is another favorite myth of the green-gadget fleecers. They tell us that their gadgets will produce clean energy but they will not tell you that their gadgets require an equal amount of installed reliable thermal power in order to even get partial use in meeting the typical electric power demand curve. They have zero capacity reliability. So a 100 megawatt solar panel plant actually requires either a 100 megawatt thermal power plant or a costly energy storage facility (for example, a large reservoir) for backup. Otherwise it can never deliver its rated capacity. Without thermal backup you have a third world power system with daily blackouts.

The fleecers also never tell you that the capital cost of an installed megawatt of their gadget will be ten or more times the cost of an installed megawatt of thermal power (i.e., oil, gas, geothermal, or nuclear). All these extra costs are again coming out of Joe and Jane Sixpack’s pockets as add-ons to their utility bill and/or direct taxes. More socialist redistribution of wealth from Joe and Jane to the fleecers under the guise of tax breaks, subsidies, and increased utility charges. And rate increases for AB 32 are already being programmed by the utilities. Check your billing inserts.

AB 32 Myth No. 6

Proposition 23 is a dirty energy bill

AB 32 Myth No. 6 is a corollary myth to myth No. 5. The fleecers claim AB 32 is for clean energy and Proposition 23 is for dirty energy. This myth fails on its face since as noted above, AB 32 does not regulate any “dirty” pollutants, so its suspension would simply be a null event with respect to pollutants. The fleecers also do not mention that CO2 is a colorless, harmless gas, in fact a gas exhaled by humans and animals and a vitally needed gas by all vegetation. Calling CO2 dirty is a lingual perversion only a liberal could mouth with a straight face.

AB 32 Myth No. 7

Proposition 23 to put AB 32 on hold is an attack by “greedy” (according to Governor Schwarzenegger) out-of-state oil companies.

Another myth. Proposition 23 was put together by California Assemblyman Dan Logue initially as AB 118 in early 2010 and was originally proposed by him to the Assembly environmental committee, which rejected it on a party line vote.

In view of the massive disinformation campaign of the AB 32 fleecers, it is great to have affected industries like Tesaro, Valero, and Koch help California Joe and Janes with the costs of fighting back the tide of propaganda behind AB 32. But it is not only out-of-state oil companies with thousands of California employees and independent distributors that are supporting Proposition 23, it also includes many other deeply affected California firms, including the California Manufacturers and Technology Association, Occidental Oil Company, and many other industries that provide California with real jobs. Despite the governor’s unfounded accusation, these companies will pay the AB 32 costs but like the power utilities and everybody else, will be forced to pass the bill onto Joe and Jane Sixpack, with all the hardship and further economic devastation to the economy that will entail.

AB 32 Myth No. 8

If Proposition 23 passes it will adversely affect the poorer groups in society.

The fact is that if Proposition 23 fails and AB 32 is allowed to proceed, AB 32 will wreck the California economy and the poorer groups of society will be hit the soonest and the hardest, with higher costs for all the basics such as gasoline, food, shelter, and energy, and a huge increase in unemployment that will make even fewer jobs available at the bottom of the economic ladder. Proposition 23 on the other hand will do the opposite if it passes (See AB 32 Truth No. 2 below).

Besides the myths of AB 32, there are some truths if AB 32 goes into effect!

AB 32 Truth No. 1

Cap and Trade – the 21st century version of snake oil – is coming to empty your bank account!

AB 32 will establish carbon cap and trade, which is another fleecer raid redistributing Joe and Jane Sixpack’s income and wealth. This will make electricity costs skyrocket for Joe and Jane’s employers, many of whom may have to close down because of the combination of incremental energy costs and new carbon restrictive CARB regulations make their businesses infeasible.. It will also raise the costs of powering their homes and could force additional foreclosures for Joes and Janes who are on the financial margin already. But it will not stop here. Since energy (i.e., CO2) is required by every economic activity in the state, everything will increase in cost from groceries to gasoline to construction materials and to services of all types; nothing will go down in cost, nothing.

Who are the fleecers rubbing their hands to get at cap and trade revenue or green gadgets to get the redistributed wealth of Joe and Jane? This includes first the state politicos getting more tax revenue in their pockets; the hedge fund manager Tom Steyer, heading the anti- Proposition 23 campaign, his co-director George “I have owned an electric car 10 years” Shultz, PG&E, BP, Chevron, Goldman-Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Bank of America, Chase Bank, Citybank, Duke Power, The Chicago Carbon Trust (started by Obama), Dow Chemical, Ford Motor Company, Coca Cola, Johnson and Johnson, Du Pont, capitalist-cum socialist George Soros, many Silicon Valley venture capitalists, including Al Gore of course, innumerable far-left-wing foundations and environmental organizations, and hundreds of green-gadget fleecers and green service providers, notably Google. Some of these folks have donated millions to fight Proposition 23. Why spend so much on Anti-proposition 23 propaganda? Because they envision lost opportunity to fleece the public, if Proposition 23 wins.

For example, how much of Joe and Jane’s wealth will AB 32 redistribute, say to purchasers of $40,000 electric cars? Electric cars and their heavy demand on the electric power system are only one of dozens of faux “green”products that do not deserve the economic light of day, and certainly do not deserve a government redistribution raid Joe and Jane’s wealth.

The residue from AB 32 will be a big mess for the citizens of California. No economist even knows how to estimate its sequential complex inter-effects on the economy, business sustainability and business out-migration. There has never been an attack on a socio-cultural economic system like AB 32, unless you consider the residue from a major war, like the WWII destruction of the Nazi economy.

So in addition to being the national sacrificial lamb for demonstrating the non-effect of global warming solutions, Joe and Jane Sixpack will be required to pay bor showing the rest of the country what inflation combined with socialist poverty is really like: an inflation uniquely confined to our state borders, which will soon be further loaded with federally promoted inflation generated by the federal money printing presses.

AB 32 will provide a unique California combination of inflation in consumer goods and further depression in the housing market and the general economy, and further increases in unemployment. All these dislocations will eventually lead to the bare shelves found in every socialist country since Karl Marx. Yes, California will continue to be a leader – a leader to economic oblivion and socialist suppression.

AB 32 Truth No. 2.

AB 32 will reduce our dependence on foreign sources of oil.

True, but unreliable green energy can never be a 1:1 substitute for reliable energy from coal, oil, gas, or nuclear.

There is another part of this truth coin. AB 32 regulations will truly crush the state economy to such an extent that there will be a significant reduction in economic activity, resulting in decline in overall demand for reliable electric power and for coal, oil, gas, diesel fuel and gasoline, thus reducing national demand for foreign oil. This result will dovetail with the Obama Cloward-Piven plan for the EPA to collapse the national economy, following Obama’s shutdown of domestic oil production in the Gulf and his plan to introduce socialism to the entire country.

On the other hand, if Proposition 23 passes, the state economy will start humming again as real businesses realize that the AB 32 albatross will no longer be hanging over them, and they will be able plan ahead to invest, produce, and bring real jobs back to California (color these jobs red white and blue!). The example will speak volumes to the rest of the country before it falls for Obama’s “transformation”.

AB 32 Truth No. 3.

AB32 will trade Joe and Jane Sixpack’s liberty for government tyranny, i.e., socialism. Liberty that was hard-won by their forefathers will be traded for the chains of socialist regulation.

AB 32 will introduce the tyranny of real socialism to America through California, but limited to the borders of our state. The Eastern European countries during the cold war lived through a stifling socialist existence which was both mental and physical agony for their peoples. Under AB 32 secret police will be replaced by enviro-CARB agents, and the overbearing, crushing soft tyranny of CARB regulations will drive many businesses to bankruptcy or leaving the state. CARB will become the equivalent to Orwell’s tyrannical Big Brother under AB 32.

State socialism for California promises to be a devastating experiment, and it will fail eventually, as all previous attempts at socialism failed. Fourtunately, AB 32 has a poison pill: Myth No. 1, which guarantees it will fail, sooner than later.

If Proposition 23 fails and AB 32 goes ahead, soon afterwards its tyranny will become apparent to all and its mythical basis will be understood by the voters, and a new Proposition 23 will arise. But the socialist experiment will cost Californians dearly and will interrupt and sour their lives for a decade or more of misery before it can be turned around.

One potential national benefit of passage of AB 32 is that it might help other states to better understand the folly of the California experiment and decide that socialism has no advantage over our historic wildly successful free enterprise. AB 32 could thus help them reject the nation-wide socialism which the current president is promoting.

Meanwhile, if the Joe and Jane Sixpacks of California object to being socialist guinea pigs, they will vote yes on Proposition 23 and put AB 32 on ice.

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Ron Kilmartin is a consulting engineer in Pleasant Hill, Ca, specializing in water and power resources planning and engineering. He blogs at ronkilmartin.wordpress.com.